The Jaffa
by Wynjamor
Summary: Jonas is injured in an incident with a Jaffa, causing a lockdown. But did anyone think to ask him exactly what happened?


Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended, fic is for fun.  
  
The British delegation left early Wednesday morning – after being informed of the existence of the stargate, the Intelligence Officer wanted to go back to London and discuss his options. General Hammond was secretly worried about the outcome of his decision to inform the world's major powers, but at the same time relieved to be rid of them – it had been a stressful few days.  
  
To take his mind off things, the General decided to visit Jonas Quinn. The alien was usually upbeat and would hopefully offer some distraction.  
  
Hammond knocked on the door of the office which had once been Daniel Jackson's. There was no reply. He knocked again, and was met with a loud crash.  
  
"Jonas?"  
  
Another crash sounded; the General sprung into action, kicking open the door and jumping into the office with a cry, fists raised ready to defend himself.  
  
"General!" Jonas was lying on the floor, a dark bruise swelling on his forehead, tears of anguish in his eyes.  
  
"Jonas, what happened?! Are you alright?" Hammond knelt beside the young man, shock and concern gripping his bald features.  
  
"I...I'm not sure." Jonas stuttered, tears spilling onto his cheeks. "One minute, the Jaffa was here...the next it was...was..."  
  
"What, what is it?!"  
  
"It was GONE!" Jonas screamed, covering his face with his hands.  
  
Hammond looked around the office – the table had been knocked over; wires trailed everywhere and loose papers littered the floor. Jonas's hands were scraped and he was badly hurt – all classic signs of a struggle ending in violence. But who had attacked the Kelownan, and what did they want?  
  
"Oh, no...the Jaffa..." Jonas sobbed. Hammond looked at him.  
  
"Jaffa?" Jonas's earlier words came back to him. "Someone took a Jaffa? A Jaffa was here?!"  
  
"Yes..." Jonas looked at the General. "Someone must have taken it!"  
  
Hammond leapt to his feet and sprinted out of the office as fast as his portly frame allowed. He grabbed for a phone in the corridor.  
  
"Get me the control room. This is Hammond, I need a level one lockdown. This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill. We have a missing Jaffa on the premises. Oh, and get Dr. Frasier down to Jonas Quinn's office – the poor boy's been attacked."  
  
Every available soldier was drafted in to help with the search. Teal'c, O'Neill and Carter were called to General Hammond's office.  
  
"Do you know anything about this Teal'c?" he began. "How a Jaffa could have got here unnoticed, what they'd want with Jonas?"  
  
"No General, I do not. I can think of no reason why a Jaffa would come here unannounced."  
  
"We have no records of space craft in the vicinity, and the stargate hasn't been used since before the foreign delegates arrived" Carter said.  
  
"You're sure Jonas isn't...mistaken?" O'Neill asked.  
  
"Colonel, I think you've questioned Jonas Quinn's ability as a member of SG-1 enough – he's proved himself time and again and you still disbelieve him?" Hammond sounded angry, and O'Neill shook his head in response.  
  
"No sir...I was just...exploring all avenues..."  
  
"Well, the fact remains that we have a possible Jaffa loose on the base. And a possible attacker. Someone gave Jonas those injuries."  
  
"Injuries?" Carter looked concerned. She'd been rudely awoken only a short time before, and didn't know all the details yet. "Is he ok?"  
  
"His bruises and lacerations will heal. The ribs may take some time...but the injuries *in here*..." General Hammond patted his chest, "...could last a lifetime. I'm afraid to say he may never be the same again..."  
  
"Jonas?" Carter entered the darkened medical bay tentatively, her eyes somehow reluctant to adjust to the darkness and the horrors it might contain.  
  
"Whyyy.........." A thin wail came from somewhere behind a green curtain, and was followed by loud sniffling.  
  
"Jonas?" Carter approached the curtain, breath held in fear. The sniffling continued, deteriorating into dejected sobs. The Major's heart felt tight as she came so close to the young man's suffering. She slowly drew back the drape and revealed the Kelownan, strapped to the gurney by thongs at his wrists and ankles, a large bandage covering his otherwise bare chest. Carter blushed involuntarily.  
  
"Jonas, are you ok?"  
  
Jonas's eyes were red from crying; his hair was tousled and his skin had a damp sheen in the light from the monitors tracking his vitals.  
  
"No..." he gasped. "It hurts..."  
  
"General Hammond said you broke some ribs"  
  
"I...I fell over the table"  
  
"Trying to escape from your attacker?" Carter sympathised, imagining Jonas's brave struggle.  
  
"No...I was trying to find...find the..."  
  
"What?" Carter frowned.  
  
"The Jaffa!" Jonas wailed. "I couldn't find it!"  
  
Carter was confused. "What do you mean 'it'? Didn't someone come and kidnap him?"  
  
Jonas sniffed loudly. "Him?"  
  
"The Jaffa"  
  
"...I lost it..."  
  
"It?"  
  
"The Jaffa Cake" Jonas had stopped crying and was looking at Major Carter intently. "What did you think I meant?"  
  
Carter slapped her forehead in exasperation. "Jonas, did anyone question you about what happened in your office?"  
  
"Not really...General Hammond asked where I'd last seen the Jaffa...he said he'd find it. Actually, he said he'd find *him*, like you did. That's strange..."  
  
"Jonas, what's a Jaffa Cake?"  
  
Jonas grinned. "It's like a cake, but with orange jell-o on top...sweet, sweet jell-o...and it's all covered in delicious chocolate" He licked his lips. "The British delegation left a packet behind, and I was saving the last one for a mid-morning snack. But it's gone..." Tears welled up in his eyes once again. "One minute it was there in my office, and the next...Don't tell anyone, but I think it was General Hammond. He looked too concerned when I told him, like he was overcompensating for guilt..."  
  
Carter had stopped listening. "How did you get these injuries?"  
  
"Looking for the Jaffa Cake. I got desperate..."  
  
Carter thought of the lockdown, and the thousands of dollars – hundreds of hours of work which had been wasted on a wild-goose chase. She told Jonas of the trouble he'd caused, loosening his restraints as she did so. The Kelownan sat up in bed, rubbing his wrists.  
  
"But Major, the question remains – did Hammond genuinely believe a Jaffa was on the loose, or was he trying to direct attention away from the fact that he'd stolen my mouth-watering light snack? You know, I've never really trusted him..."  
  
Carter narrowed her eyes. She thought of Hammond's distress in his office, and all of a sudden it seemed a little...theatrical.  
  
"I don't know, Jonas. I just don't know..."  
  
A/N: When I first heard the word "Jaffa", it confused me immensely, having grown up with a certain round cake item...Maybe it confused the SGC too... 


End file.
